‘The Voice’ and ‘Dancing With the Stars’ go head to head in a ratings battle

Jonathas Ojeda, Ashley De La Rosa on Monday’s “The Voice.”
(Lewis Jacobs - NBC)
NBC’s “The Voice” and ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” went head-to-head for the first time Monday night. Both emerged bloodied, but neither got knocked out.

ABC’s dance derby and NBC’s singing competition came in on the low side, ratings-wise. But both grew their audiences from 8 to 10 p.m., and both wound up with numbers that will probably land them in the ratings top-10 lists this week.

The unveiling of “Dancing’s” 14th edition attracted 18.8 million viewers — the biggest crowd to watch any TV show on any network last week. That is, in fact, the largest audience for any show since this year’s Academy Awards.

“The Voice” averaged 12 million. That’s a season low and marks the first time this season that it’s been beat by any program in its time slot.

“Dancing,” meanwhile, took about a 4 million-viewer hit, compared with its spring-season debut last year.

That 18.8 million crowd is, however, not a series low for “Dancing” — three previous editions of the long-running franchise opened to smaller crowds: seasons 2, 3 and 9.

Monday’s debut was the lowest-rated ever for “Dancing” among the 18- to 49-year-olds who are the currency of the television business. Compared with its most recent debut last fall, “Dancing” on Monday fumbled about 600,000 viewers in the age group.

“The Voice” lost more viewers in that age group — about 760,000 — week to week, scoring its smallest audience this season.

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